Patricia Morgan: Urge Chafee to veto the babysitters bill

At a meeting of House members in February, Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox (D-Providence) anointed 2013 as "The Year of Economic Development." But rather than drive passage of legislation that would lower the cost of doing business or lessen th

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Posted Jul. 5, 2013 @ 12:01 am

At a meeting of House members in February, Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox (D-Providence) anointed 2013 as "The Year of Economic Development." But rather than drive passage of legislation that would lower the cost of doing business or lessen the cost of living for Rhode Island taxpayers, the General Assembly has opted to do just the opposite. Rather than adopt a bold vision for rebuilding Rhode Island's economy, we have again opted to take care of special interests -- and let wage-earners foot the bill.

House bill 5946 is a perfect example of the kind of thing that keeps pushing Rhode Island downhill. This bill allows private, home-based childcare providers to bargain collectively, not with their employers, but with the state's Department of Health and Human Services. The bill says in black and white that these providers will not become state employees, but then turns around and does almost exactly that. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck. And this duck would add millions in extra spending to an already overburdened state budget.

This bill, the "Quality Family Child Care Act," grants these home-based workers the right to form a union and to bargain on wages, benefits, training, payment procedures and a grievance resolution process. They can even access the binding arbitration process, a weapon that has forced costly and fiscally-damaging concessions from elected officials for decades. And the director of HHS is "obligated" to negotiate with their union.Virtually an identical bill was passed by the General Assembly several years ago, but was vetoed by Governor Carcieri because of the cost and the "invention" of new state employees. He called it "an unmitigated legal and financial disaster for the both the taxpayers ... and our state's child care system."

With this bill as law, child care costs will skyrocket.

The state is already spending approximately $13,000 per child for childcare to needy families. With over 6,000 children in the program, that adds up to a whopping $40 million annually. The largest share is paid with federal dollars, but it's still all taxpayer money. And we simply cannot afford the dramatic increase that this change would create.

Unfortunately, the costs don't stop there. The cost for all childcare will get a bump up. Young families, struggling to pay for childcare out of their own pockets, will suffer even higher costs. Child care costs are already a challenge for them; this legislation makes it worse.

Let's be clear: those who benefit from this legislation are individuals operating as private businesses. If they want to form a union on their own, they may. But this bill goes much farther by granting a formal bargaining relationship with the state, and standing as a quasi-state employee.

This legislation is overreach. It is bad public policy. It is bad economics. And with the state anticipating a $170 million structural deficit next year, it is the wrong time to be doing it. The state can't afford it. Neither can our families.Governor Chafee should veto this bill, for all our sakes.

Patricia MorganWest Warwick

The writer is a Republican Rhode Island state representative whose district includes parts of West Warwick, Coventry and Warwick.